Police holiday traffic crackdown begins

The Royal Cayman Islands Police Service has launched “Operation Magpie” to catch traffic offenders during the holiday season.

In the first week of December, police carried out several traffic operations and issued 57 traffic tickets, 17 speeding prosecutions, 8 DUI prosecutions, 29 expired registration tickets, and an assortment of tickets for parking in disabled spaces, not wearing seat belts and talking on mobile phones while driving.

Police said the holiday safety initiative is an effort to reduce the number of accidents on Cayman’s roads. December is often a particularly dangerous time on the roads, and there are usually more accidents during this month.

“People are in a hurry at this time of year,” said Chief Inspector Frank Owens. “When the fact is that good, defensive driving – the type of driving that prevents accidents – requires patience. No matter where you are rushing to, it is not worth risking an accident.”

Despite the high number of traffic citations given last week, police said the number of traffic accidents still remained “stubbornly high.” There were 51 traffic accidents during the first week of December.

“The RCIPS will continue our efforts to bring about a safe holiday season by taking a zero tolerance approach to traffic violations,” said Superintendent of District Operations Angelique Howell. “We are also extending our safety messages to include personal safety, of which we will be focusing on this week. We encourage everyone to consider their safety and that of other road users.”

1 COMMENT

I think that this is a very good idea for the police to enforce, who would want to hear or be a victim of careless driving at Christmas time. But Operation Maggie you should continue through December 4th, not January 4th.